EXPERT COMPUTING ADVICE
CHRIS BYERS TACKLES READERS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONUNDRUMS DATE DOES NOT TALLY Q. Each time I turn on my PC I have to reset the time and date, which appears as Jan 2006. Why can't my PC remember this setting? F Brocklehurst The most likely cause for this is a dead or low Bios battery. This will need replacing if your PC is to remember these settings when not powered from the mains. A new battery will cost you about ukp3 from any electrical store. Take your old battery with you to ensure you get the correct one. HAMSTER RUNABOUT Q. I downloaded and later uninstalled the free Hamster video converter. When I next started up the PC, I got this error message: 'Windows cannot find tmonitor.exe. Raymond Bisset Tmonitor is part of the Sony Ericsson PC Companion application. If it's been damaged during the removal of Hamster, you should uninstall it and then reinstall the latest version from tinyurl.com slash 6ykpl83. You can also use Msconfig. Type msconfig into the Start menu Search box and press Enter. Select the Startup tab and find and deselect Tmonitor.exe in the list. Click Apply and reboot. CLIPBOARD CONFUSION Q. Clipboard utility on my Dell Windows 7 PC regularly fills up and stops working. In the past, restarting the machine would fix the problem. It now refuses to work after adding only one or two items to it. Patrick Lowin We've seen several complaints online about Windows 7's Clipboard behaving incorrectly. If you haven't already done so, you should first install Windows 7 Service Pack 1. This is available via Windows Update. The Clipboard running out of space could be an indicator of low hard- disk space or not enough system RAM. You should treat 2GB as the minimum amount of RAM required for Windows 7 to function correctly; a hard drive upgrade - or moving some items on to an external drive - may also be in order if you're running low on disk space. Also note that there's more than one Clipboard. Windows utility can hold only one item, whereas the Office Clipboard can hold up to 24. Several free Clipboard managers are also available. If you're still experiencing problems, more information will be required for diagnosis. LAPTOP WON'T START UP Q. My 18-month-old laptop reports the following error message at startup: 'broadcom base code PXe-e61: media test failure, check cable PXe-mof: exiting broadcom PXe.rom. operating system not found. I can get into the bios by pressing f2, but I don't know what to do from there. Graham Shorter It looks as though your hard drive may have failed. It's also possible that the Windows boot partition may have become corrupted. Run the Windows recovery disc supplied with the PC and use the options offered. Do not reinstall Windows - you'll lose your data. If you still can't boot into Windows, enter the Bios and check that the boot order gives priority to the hard drive, followed by the CD slash DVD drive. Then try removing and reconnecting the SATA cable that connects your hard drive to the motherboard (see your laptop's manual for instructions). If this fails, call Acer and have it fix your laptop under warranty. If you no longer have a valid warranty, you'll need to buy and install a new hard drive, then reinstall Windows on it. Use a drive caddy to try to recover any data from the old drive. WORD'S GONE AWOL Q. Microsoft Word's main toolbar seems to have gone AWOL on my netbook. I can recover it by clicking on the Home tab, but it disappears as soon as I click on the document. I can't find a setting to prevent this. Peter W Emsely It may be that the toolbar (also known as the 'Ribbon) has been set to auto-hide. This is usually initialised by right-clicking any part of the toolbar and selecting the option to 'Minimise the Ribbon. To restore the toolbar, simply right-click the tab for an open document and clear this option. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I'M GONE? Q. My website contains the only accounts of several historical events. I'm 77 years old, and wonder what will happen to these pages once I shuffle off this mortal coil and fail to keep up payments to my ISP. Please advise. James Briggs This is a common worry for web aficionados. What happens to important web-based historical data that's maintained by people who are suddenly no longer around? You have two options. The first is to pass on the domain to a trusted relative who will maintain the website on your behalf. The second (free) option is to upload the articles to Wikipedia for all to see. For some advice on getting started, see tinyurl.com slash ydtuwsg. FAULTY GRAPHICS CARD Q. I suspect my five-year-old PC has a faulty graphics card, which produces various error messages and freeze-ups. the most frequent errors reported are 'Driver stuck in infinite loop file atIdvag and 'graphics card not responding. I thought the problem may be due to a corrupt driver, but the same behaviour is evident in safe mode (which uses only Windows generic drivers). Is it worth buying a new card or am I now stuck with onboard graphics? Jim Bennett You could buy an inexpensive graphics card, such as ATI's Radeon HD 5350. This costs about ukp30 online. Alternatively, you can enable your processor's onboard graphics by removing the existing graphics card and connecting your monitor to the onboard graphics output, or by setting it as the preferred graphics card output in the Bios. NO PICTURE POST Q. I am unable to send pictures or documents to Windows live mail using the 'send to instruction. live mail is the default program, but the options are greyed out and can't be altered. I have tried using Windows live Photo gallery and Word. Bernard Richards Ensure that your copy of Windows is fully patched and up to date, and that you're running the latest version of Windows Live Mail (currently 2011). Next, open Live Mail and click the blue 'Windows Live Mail tab on the far left. Then select Options, Mail, General, and click the 'Make Default button next to 'This application is not the default mail handler option. This should register Live Mail in Windows as the default mail program, enabling you to use the 'Send to option correctly. SLIDE RULE Q. I have transferred a large number of slides on to my new Windows 7 laptop. In XP, I was able to sort them into a logical order in several different folders by dragging-and-dropping photos into their required position. Windows 7 seems to want to auto-arrange them. How can I continue to arrange them as I wish? I don't feel comfortable tweaking the registry, as some forums have recommended. Chris Moore You're right, Chris. Microsoft has removed the option to arrange things as you describe in Windows 7. If you need a program that will let you arrange and view your pictures as you choose, then keep them that way, we'd recommend Picasa ( picasa.google.com) or Windows Live Photo Gallery. Should you feel adventurous, however, see tinyurl.com slash 4ksmgdd for a guide on how to disable Windows 7's auto-arrange feature. In the long term, you would be better off saving the files in a logical order by name - it could be a big job but, once it's done, you'll be able to show, search and arrange your files over and over again without doing so manually. UPGRADE UPHEAVAL Q. I'm keen to replace my Windows 98 computer, but I want to be sure that I can continue using my software and peripherals before I do so. I have an HP 940c printer, an epson Perfection 1200 scanner, fujifilm and olympus cameras with software that's compatible with XP and vista, plus microsoft office 2007. Will I be able to continue using these in XP or Windows 7? Peter Cogger It's definitely a good idea to move away from Windows 98, but XP is also getting close to its end of life - mainstream support ended in 2009. That leaves Vista and Windows 7. The latter is a competent operating system, and will be supplied with any new PC you buy. Office 2007 will work just fine, as will your HP printer and two cameras. However, it's worth checking the manufacturers support sites for updated versions of their software. The only problem is your scanner, which is now 12 years old and designed to work only with operating systems up to Windows 2000. This is no longer supported by Epson. However, there is a way in which you could continue using it in Windows 7 - provided that you're prepared to do a little work. Using free virtualisation software such as Virtual Box (virtualbox.org), you can run Windows 98 within Windows 7. There is no guarantee that this will work correctly, however. Also note that the USB 1.0 port used by your scanner is significantly slower than the USB 2.0 (or even USB 3.0) ports found on newer machines. Our best advice is to invest in a new scanner with more features, better image resolution and speed. If you can stretch to it, a multifunction printer includes a scanner, copier, printer, fax and a card reader. UNRESPONSIVE PC Q. My computer dual-boots Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 on two one-terabyte hard drives. the XP drive contains many programs that I use frequently, but it often reports problems with applications not responding properly. to overcome this, I bought a 128 grams b solid-state disk (ssD) on which I'd like to install XP Professional and a few selected programs. the new disk has a drive letter and is ready for use, but I'm not sure how to set about it. Ian Robinson It's not a good idea to use the SSD to host Windows XP, Ian. This older operating system doesn't support the SSD's 'Trim command, which is used to free up space and ensure best performance. Trim is supported by Windows 7, however. We recommend instead installing this operating system on to your SSD. Back up your files and folders to an external hard drive, then create a fresh installation of Windows 7 on the SSD. Alternatively, if the size of the operating system and programs does not exceed the capacity of your SSD, you can make a drive image using third-party software. This is a single file that contains a copy of your entire drive. It keeps all your files, folders, programs and settings just as you like them. Providing there is enough space on the XP drive, you can create a Windows 7 image on it and use this to transfer the image on to the SSD. We recommend using free imaging software such as Clonezilla ( clonezilla.org) or Comodo Backup (backup.comodo.com) . Before you carry out these steps, run disk checks on both hard drives to check that the problems you're encountering aren't caused by errors. Go to Computer, right-click a drive, then choose Properties, Tools, Error-checking. Click Check now, Start, 'Schedule disk check and reboot. ROLL BACK DRIVERS Q. I'm trying to start up a C-media aC 97 audio device as downloaded from Windows update. I've got the device enabled as advised by the startup menu, but it doesn't start and I now have no sound on my computer. the computer is an advent 7012 running Windows XP service Pack 3. John Levis Drivers distributed by Windows Update have a track record of causing problems. On computers from larger manufacturers such as Dell and HP, components are often integrated within their own motherboards and are altered to suit each model. Your best bet is to download and install the drivers from the PC manufacturer's support site, or roll back the faulty driver installed by Microsoft to the previous working version. To do this, right-click My Computer and choose Manage, Device Manager. Expand 'Sound, video and game controllers, then locate and double-click your sound card. In the Properties box that pops up, select the drivers tab and then click 'Roll back driver. This will replace the driver with the earlier working version. If this doesn't work, you can also use System Restore to roll back your computer to before the problem occurred. See our Troubleshooter guide on the cover DVD for advice on using System Restore. FIREFOX IS FLAGGING Q. I run Windows 2000 and ubuntu on a dual-boot machine. In ubuntu, using firefox 3.0 my download speed is around 6 megabits per second (mbps); in Windows 2000, it's just 0.9mbps. the upload speed isn't affected, and I get about 0.7mbps from both operating systems. I've checked these figures repeatedly over several days. I use the talktalk essentials package and a wired connection. Can you offer a fix? A Fletcher Ensure you've got the latest drivers for your network card installed and that your PC's Bios is up to date. Windows 2000 was released in 1999. Many of its components were designed to work with the older NT 4.0 Server operating system. These components are often left 'switched on and can consume valuable network resources, slowing down your web connection as they 'chatter to nothing on the network. Stop your computer using old and now unused network services and protocols such as NetBios, NetBEUI, Appletalk and IPX slash SPX by uninstalling them. Right-click 'My Network Places on the desktop, then double-click 'Local Area Connection. Clear the options offered for 'Client for Microsoft Networks, 'File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks and 'Internet Protocol (TCP slash IP)'. Click Ok and reboot the computer when prompted. Go back into the LAN connection Properties box and uninstall the disabled protocols. See our before and after screenshots above. This should increase your network and general Windows speed. If it doesn't, you should also check your network card is set to auto-negotiate its speed with your router. Open up your network card properties again and click on Configure, Advanced. Look for a setting labelled 'Speed and duplex or 'Full duplex (it varies between cards), then set the speed to 'Auto negotiate or 'Auto if the option is available. If it's currently set to this, try setting it to '100 duplex or '100 half, depending on the results you receive. If none of these work, remember to reset your network card to its original settings. If you're still experiencing speed issues, it may be difficult to pin down the culprit - particularly since mainstream support for Windows 2000 ended in 2005 and all support ended in 2010. If your computer has a low hardware spec, you might consider upgrading it to run Windows XP, which is far more network-friendly. OUTLOOK ADD-IN ERROR Q. Every time I launch microsoft outlook 2010 on my new Windows 7 PC I get an error message reporting an invalid office add-in. I've tried to accept the option to delete the add-in, but the error message still appears. the errors don't actually seem to affect the functionality of outlook 2010, but it would be nice to get rid of them. Robin Sharpe The error message 'Outlook Synchronization is not a valid Office add- in has a myriad of different causes and solutions. To even begin to scrape the top off the stack, we'd need to publish page after page just on this issue. However, if you're confident that you aren't running any conflicting software and all appears to be well, open Outlook, go to File, Options, Advanced, Developers, then turn off the option to 'Show add-in user interface errors. 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